


To Play The King

by shadowolfhunter



Category: Grimm (TV)
Genre: Love, M/M, Riff on Marley's Ghost, Sacrifice, bad childhood, fixing what's broken
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-27
Updated: 2016-09-28
Packaged: 2018-08-18 04:15:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8148799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowolfhunter/pseuds/shadowolfhunter
Summary: Kelly Burkhardt has a job to do, she has to go back and persuade her son not to kill the future King who will unite the Seven Families. Because it's the Grimm's job to drag the Prince back from the wrong path. He doesn't know how vital he is to the resistance, and neither does his nemesis. Kelly has three nights to do it.





	1. Ghost Walk

**Author's Note:**

> This is the point where I have to warn of something that might be a trigger. We have learned that Sean's childhood was largely about running for his life. In my book that is a pretty crappy childhood. I also figure that Sean's none-to-pleasant early life did not just begin when he was 13, but had been going on for some time. That both Sean and his mother had to learn some nasty lessons, and if that made them both rather aloof, well that is hardly a surprise now is it?

Entering a room without being seen is a cinch, because now she's pure spirit Kelly Burkhardt has achieved the ultimate in stealth.

She pauses at the foot of the bed and gazes down at her son. Nick's asleep, sprawled out on his back, like a starfish, taking up as much of the bed as he can. It seems a curiously angry posture for one so apparently peacefully sleeping, and Kelly is a little surprised.

Nick is angry then.

Not really a surprise. But it makes her task much harder.

She calls to him. "Nick.."

Nick startles awake. He sees her standing at the foot of his bed, his eyes grow rounder and his breath quickens, "Mom?" He sounds desperate and she is sorry to do this to him, but time is short.

"I am dead Nick." She can see the pain in his eyes, "but time is short and I have a message.."

He shakes his head in confusion. "Message?"

"Yes, Nick... A message. About you, and Sean Renard."

This time there is no mistaking the anger on her son's face, his eyes grow cold and hard, and distant. Kelly cuts in before he can deny her. "No, Nick. I was chosen for this. This isn't a trick. I need to convince you, and you need to convince Sean."

"It makes no sense." Nick looks a lot stubborn, and a little confused, but since he's accepted the presence of his mother's spirit in his bedroom, Kelly takes it as a victory.

She holds out her hand, after a second's hesitation, Nick puts his hand in hers. "Hold on."

Confused, Nick holds her hand.

The room disappears around them, and in front there is a long dark and very gloomy corridor. The dark stone, barely relieved with some dark and dusty wall hangings, and a rather threadbare red carpet, appears to be a place Nick has never seen. "Where..."

Kelly puts her finger to her lips, "just watch."

Nick watches, he cannot imagine what this has to do with Sean Renard, but this is his mother. They pause outside a door, which opens silently. In front of them there is a blonde woman, carrying a child, her back is towards them, and the child has one chubby arm around her neck, and his face buried in her shoulder. Nick has no idea how he knows the child is a boy, but the woman turns then, and Nick catches sight of her face. Elizabeth Lascelles. She's speaking to an older woman in the room. "I am taking Sean with me tonight." The older woman has a sullen look, as though she wants to protest, but doesn't. And at that moment the child shifts, and Nick gets a glimpse of a cast, he can't see all of it, but it appears to run from knuckles to shoulder, encasing Sean's right arm.

"Sean is four, his arm was broken in three places when his older half brother, Erik, tripped him and Sean fell down the stairs."

Nick can't tear his eyes away from the pinched, frozen look on Sean's young face. It's the face of a child who expects pain, and is bewildered by his mother's love.

God that hurts.

Nick hardens his heart, so a less than ideal childhood is Sean's excuse for everything that's happened.

"Accidents happen all the time." He growls, "I broke my arm, TWICE."

"Nick, you fell out of the tree at the bottom of our garden, the one your father told you not to climb. And Sean's fall was far from accidental, although Erik and the Nanny told Sean's father it was." Kelly pauses, letting a bit of that sink in. "Afterall, King Frederick is so fond of his sons."

Nick did scowl at that. In the almost seven years he had known Sean Renard, the news that he actually had a father came as something of a surprise. None of his detectives had ever seen a hint of the man's existence, and after Nick became a Grimm and found out what Sean Renard was, Nick had done some very thorough digging, with Monroe's help and knowledge to back him up. At best, he guessed that King Frederick Renard's only real interest in his illegitimate younger son was the Key that Frederick tried to steal from Nick, using Sean as a pawn.

"So."

"The journey has begun, but is not yet set, I have more of Sean's past to show you, and your own future."

"And if I told you that this really isn't all that strange to me."

Kelly smiled, and the landscape changed.

"Moving on..."


	2. Down The Path of Pain and Fear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nick learns more about Sean's past, and a long held secret that blows his mind. Taking everything he thought he knew and this new information, Nick's starts to see how his own actions may have had a part to play.

The scene changes, they are outside, and Nick takes a long look at where Sean grew up. It's every bit as dark, gloomy and miserable as Nick sometimes imagined it would be. No doubt the building is striking, but it's old, ugly and has been randomly added to over the centuries. Nick casts a long hard sideways look at his mother. "Mom..."

"I know what you want to ask, Nick, and I cannot tell you, I have been granted this chance and this is not about me, but you and Sean."

Nick wants to say something, but Kelly points to a door low down in the wall, and he falls silent as the door opens.

It's Sean, he's older, probably eight or nine, there's a scrape and a bruise on his left cheek, his expression pinched and closed off, eyes huge, and he's carrying something. Cradling it in his arms, it's wrapped in something, and Nick wonders what it is.

They're in what is clearly the kitchen garden, and as Sean slips quietly and, Nick thinks, furtively between the raised vegetable beds, he grabs a small spade from the wheelbarrow. He's hurrying, not quite running, but moving quickly, and they move to follow him.

Sean scrambles through a gap in the wall, and begins to run until he reaches the line of trees.

There's a tree in the forest. It's tall, and has huge, tangled roots well above ground, Sean stops, lays his burden on the ground and starts to poke around with the shovel. Finally he finds what he's looking for and starts to dig. He digs with speed, there's almost a frenzy to his movements and Nick tries to equate this with the smooth, self-assured and devious Captain he's known for so long.

Sean digs for a long time, the hole is deep, but finally he stops. He's kneeling, the bundle beside him in the dirt, he looks down at it for a long time before he unwraps it.

The bundle is a little cat, grey, short fur, and Nick is very surprised when Sean begins to stroke the little cat's soft coat. It's the eerie silence as Sean's tears fall and he shakes with the force of his weeping. Finally Sean gets himself under control, gently he wraps the body in what Nick can now see is a shirt. The shirt looks new and that's another surprise. Sean lays the body in the hole he has dug, and begins to fill it in. He finishes, then begins to disguise what he has done, spreading leaves and other forest detritus over the grave.

Satisfied, Sean gets to his feet, and dries evidence of his tears with the hem of the shirt he is wearing. Facing the castle, for a second a look of unbridled hatred and pain crosses his face, and Nick is startled when Sean tilts his head, and a flicker of something moves under the skin. He's too young to woge, but clearly a strong emotional charge is something that pushes it very close to the surface. Something else that Nick was not really aware of.

Nick puzzles over the information he is receiving, as Kelly says "Sean is nine now, and the years have been difficult. He has broken down once, telling his mother he hates the castle, but Elizabeth is determined to stay." She turns back a moment to look thoughtfully at the grave Sean dug. "He called her Mignon. Just a little cat that came from the stables, Sean hid her and fed her and cared for her. Of course, Erik found out and killed her. Erik enjoys hurting Sean in whatever way he can."

Kelly turns to face her son. "There will be three more years of this, and Sean tries to run away once. Finally Elizabeth relents and sends Sean to school in Geneva."

The scene changes again, and somehow Nick knows that they are no longer in Austria.

The building is grand and attractive, there's a black Audi in front of the main door, and Nick realises they are at Sean's school. The main door opens and Elizabeth appears, carrying a bag, Sean in a school uniform of grey slacks, white shirt and navy blazer with a navy and grey tie, he's following his mother with two bags, one in each hand, he looks frightened and unhappy, and he glances back at the school as they leave.

"Get in the car, Sean, NOW." Snaps Elizabeth. Nick knows that this is the moment when Sean has to start running for his life. He looks at the tall, coltish boy that Sean has become and something shivers in his soul. Nick lost his parents at 12, he glances at his mother, but he never doubted he was loved and cared for. Sean has good cause to doubt a lot of things like that. At almost the same age, he began to run for his life as his own family sought to kill him.

Almost inconveniently, Nick realises that this does matter, that Sean's start in life makes a big difference to how he feels about the man.

Curiously, Nick finds he wishes that they know more of Sean's life on the run, especially Russia, but the next time they encounter Sean, he's sixteen or so.

Nick has no idea where they are, it's a pretty hillside not far from the ocean, and teenage Sean is lounging on a picnic blanket with another boy, he's clearly reached his full height, and is starting to lose the coltish look as he begins to mature and bulk up. There's a picnic basket on the grass, still full, and they are clearly waiting for someone. For the first time in this journey Sean looks happy and carefree, there's a smile on his face, no bruises this time, and the boy he's with reaches out and touches Sean's cheek. The cheek that turns zauber. Nick holds his breath as Sean leans into that touch and closes his eyes. They meet in the middle, the kiss is soft and chaste, but full of love.

"SEAN! DAVID!" the voice is quite loud behind them, the boys part, and Sean's companion turns around and Nick catches his breath. The boy David could be Nick's twin. He's shorter than Sean, Nick guesses he's about Nick's own height, he looks a little older than Sean, maybe seventeen or eighteen, and Nick is certain that something happens in the future.

This explains so much, but leaves so many questions that Nick honestly does not know where to begin. He looks at his mother in disbelief as a third boy joins Sean and David on the blanket.

"That is Sebastien, Sean and Sebastien are friends, and one day Sebastien will lose his life helping Adalind to escape from Viktor. The other boy is David, he's Sebastien's cousin." Kelly looks at Nick. "Sean and David have fallen in love, but the shadow of his family is long, and in two months David will die in a car crash that is deemed accidental. It isn't."


End file.
